1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices for keeping a score and, more particularly, is concerned with a portable tennis scorekeeper device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A score is kept in most sports and games. A large display and a referee are often employed to keep score in an organized tennis match. Large displays and referees, however, are generally not available for informal tennis matches. Players of an informal tennis match often must keep track of the score themselves. Though seemingly a simple task, keeping score can be a distraction for the players. Disagreements regarding the score may arise between the players when the memory of one or more of the players is relied upon to keep the score. A variety of devices have been developed over the years for making the process of scorekeeping less of a burden on the players of an informal tennis match and other sports and games.
Representative examples of prior art scorekeeping devices for various sports and games are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,143 to Van Auken et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,098 to Rubano, U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,895 to Nightingale, U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,668 to Bowen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,215 to Petersson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,504 to Zarley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,449 to Droz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,452 to Haddock et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,381 to Hendricks and U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,122 to Pittner. While these prior art scorekeeping devices appear to be satisfactory in use for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide tennis players with an ideal solution for keeping score during informal matches.
Consequently, a need still exists for a scorekeeping device which provides players of informal tennis matches with a more effective means for keeping score without introducing any new problems in place of the problem of the prior art.